


Idol

by MissMysty



Category: Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, idol AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-01-29
Updated: 2017-06-17
Packaged: 2017-10-30 07:47:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 19,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/329458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissMysty/pseuds/MissMysty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU. Yukina is a pop singer and sings the theme for the anime adaptation of one of Kisa's titles.  They meet and easily hit it off, but as Kisa learns, dating a famous singer involves a lot more mishaps than if you're not.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Marukawa was miserable any time during the summer, but late August was especially bad. They budgeted for air conditioning during the worst part of the summer, but it was usually less than a month through July and into August. So, by August twentieth, the publishing house's employees were miserable and sticky, and it was made worse because they'd had a few weeks to get used to air conditioning and conditions that were actually okay for humans to function at.

It was the middle of the day, and Kisa Shouta was grumbling to himself as he waved a hand fan in front of his face. He'd been working in the Emerald department of Marukawa for a few years now and he could still never get used to the crushing heat that came right before the weather cooled down and stopped being so stifling. He seemed to be the only one who cared, though; the editor-in-chief of Emerald Monthly, Takano Masamune, was barking orders as he always was. Mino-san and Hatori-san were going about their business, though they were both sporting sheens of sweat that weren't usually there. Even the newbie, Onodera Ritsu, didn't seem to mind that they were slowly being baked.

At least they'd already gotten out of Hell Week. He couldn't imagine being in that emotional state without proper air conditioning.

"I'm going to get something cold to drink. Anyone want anything?" Kisa asked, standing up. Everyone in the office just looked at him like he was crazy. "I'll take that as a no." He really had to wonder if it really was hot, or if he was just slowly going insane after working for the shoujo magazine for so long. It was, if he had to admit, quite possibly both.

Just as he tried to leave the office, though ,Takano's voice called out to him. "Kisa, I told you that you have to go meet someone. Or didn't you hear me?" He sounded annoyed but not overly-so. It wasn't like Kisa was a bad employee, he just tended to space out sometimes. "Isaka-san wanted us to deliver a thank you present and you're going to do it."

"Why me?" Kisa asked, inwardly groaning. He'd probably be stuck making small talk with some businessman that had some obscure connection to one of the titles he didn't even oversee. He loved his job, but he hated that part of it.

"Because it's the person singing the theme song for your new anime," Takano said, narrowing his eyes like he thought Kisa was stupid. Clearly he'd already said all this and Kisa hadn't heard a single word of it. "Your author was going to go over, but she's actually working on next month's chapter and we didn't want to interrupt her.

Kisa nodded. It really was a miracle when their authors were willingly working on their pages without someone from Emerald having to breathe down their neck the entire time. It was best to just leave them to it. Besides, it meant Kisa had to go down to the recording studio, and they did have climate control. Maybe he could get away with staying there for a few hours before Takano noticed he should've been back by then.

The present was just a bouquet of bellflowers, with a card with Marukawa's logo on it. It seemed rather odd that they were having an employee deliver them instead of having them delivered by whatever shop they got them from. Then again, Marukawa was known to cut corners like that; why pay for delivery when you can get an employee to bring them over, if you're already paying that employee for the day, anyway? And it was good for PR, Kisa supposed as he took the bouquet and headed for an elevator. Marukawa wasn't the one that was producing the anime, but they did handle the source material and it was good to be on friendly terms in that way. Friendly meant easier to work with. The fewer hoops the anime studios had to jump through to get things organized and done, the more willing they'd be to work with them in the future.

And, Kisa mused, perhaps more of his own titles would be adapted. He had been working at Emerald long enough, but very few of his titles ever got animated. He had drama CDs here and there, which he supposed meant there was plenty of interest, but at the same time, having an anime, or even just one or two OVAs, made, meant they had faith that his titles could make the kind of money that would pay back their investment and more.

It was depressing, having to sit through those print run meetings and listen to them lowball him every time. He'd try to fight back to have more copies of his tankobon printed, but it never worked. Even Takano, who seemed to believe he was a good editor, could never get them to give him a higher number. Even copies of the magazine featuring characters from his series on the cover tended to just barely squeak up into the usual number of initial prints. Kisa didn't know if he really was that unpopular compared to the other editors and their authors, or someone in Sales just hated him that much.

In fact, the only reason he had even managed to convince the people at the anime studio to produce one for this particular title was because some famous singer had been seen reading the manga, and that had caused an unprecedented spike in sales. Kisa hadn't thought to ask who the singer was, mostly because he doubted he'd ever meet the person. And anyway, it was apparently a pop star, popular with teenage girls, and Kisa wouldn't have known the name, anyway.

Walking out into Bunkyo from inside Marukawa was like the difference between walking out of a sauna and into a vat of heated marshmallow fluff. He hated both of the environments, but he found he could barely walk outside. He had to will his feet down the sidewalk, thanking whatever god existed that at least the studio was nearby. If he had had to cram himself onto the train, he probably would've tossed the flowers into a trash can and just gone straight home. He didn't have air conditioning at home because his had broken, but at least he had fans at intermittent parts of his apartment to keep the air cool and flowing.

Kisa wasn't sure how he made it, but he did. He was also right that the recording studio was air conditioned. It was almost a shock to his system after having to walk several blocks in the marshmallow fluff heat, and instead of talking to the secretary that was staring at him, he sighed in relief and just sat down in a chair in the lobby.

"Can I help you?" the secretary finally asked, looking rather uncomfortable that Kisa looked like he was going to have an orgasm just because the building had climate control.

Kisa, to his credit, got a hold of himself. "Oh, right," he said. "I was supposed to deliver these to…" He glanced at the card, hoping that it gave the name of the person because if Takano had said it, he hadn't heard that part, either. "Yukina Kou. He's supposed to be in one of the studios right now."

"He's recording right now so you can just leave them here," the woman said, signaling to her desk.

Kisa, of course, wanted to stay in that air-conditioned heaven as long as possible, so he said, "Actually I was supposed to talk to him as well, so if you don't mind telling me which one he's in…"

"…do you work for him?" the woman asked.

"Oh, no! I'm from Marukawa," Kisa said. He nodded his head in the vague direction of the publisher's building down the road. "The song he's recording today is the theme for an anime based off one of my titles so they thought it would be good if I said hello. PR and all that, you know." If Kisa had his way, he'd just drop the flowers off and find a corner to curl up in for the rest of the day, but the woman didn't look like she'd allow him to just lurk there in the lobby.

The woman reluctantly told him which studio he needed to go to, and she looked like she would rather be in his place. Since the singer's given name was "Kou" that probably meant it was, in fact, a man. And since he was a pop singer, he was probably one of those pretty-boy types Kisa had seen tacked all over the subway in the form of promotional posters and concert announcements. Kisa would be the first to admit he was easily taken in by a pretty face, but those types were almost always all looks and no substance.

Not that substance really mattered to him. Kisa couldn't remember ever having a serious relationship. Of course it wasn't like he was going to get this particular man to sleep with him. The usual type he found himself with were college students and thirty-somethings, both at a bar because they're lonely and don't have anything better to do. It wasn't as if Kisa preyed on them or anything, he just liked a good round of sex without having to worry about the other getting attached.

There was a window on the door, and Kisa glanced in before knocking. There were a couple people in there as well as a man standing in the recording booth, but he couldn't hear him; the sound must've been filtering through the headphones the woman sitting at the switchboard had over her ears. As soon as Kisa knocked, the man, dressed in a suit and looking about as nervous as a squirrel with exploding acorns, jumped up and went to the door.

"I'm sorry, but we're recording now…" he said. He eyed the bouquet of bellflowers. "If you're one of Yukina's fans, you'll just have to wait."

"Ah, no, I'm from Marukawa," Kisa said. "I'm an editor at Emerald. The editor-in-chief wanted me to bring these over as thanks…" When the man looked like he didn't believe him, Kisa thrust the flowers at him and reached into his bag when they were securely in the man's arms. He produced a business card. "I'm Kisa Shouta." He bowed as the man looked at the card in disbelief.

The man looked like he really didn't want to, but he still said, "Come in, if you want. Yukina's almost done recording." Kisa nodded his thanks and followed him in. "I'm Yukina's manager. You can just call me Kawano. Were you the one who worked on this series?"

"Yep, it's one of mine," Kisa said with a smile. "I'm sure Yukina-san will do an excellent job. I haven't seen the lyrics yet but…"

Kisa stopped dead once he was actually inside the room. The smell of greasy takeout filled the air and it was slightly hotter than in the rest of the building because it was a bit small and cramped, but neither of these things were what caught Kisa's attention. Yukina had stopped singing and was now conversing with the switchboard woman, though Kisa still couldn't hear his voice.

Yukina Kou was, however, one of the most handsome men Kisa had ever had the pleasure of laying his eyes on. He probably wasn't a teenager, as Kisa had suspected when he heard that the guy's appeal was teenage girls. He was still, however, likely younger than Kisa's own thirty years. His eyes were glowing, his skin was perfect, his face perfectly proportioned, and his hair was in a style that made it look windswept in exactly the right way. Kisa wasn't afraid to admit that if he had met this man on the street, and didn't know who he was, he would've happily seduced him into his bed.

"Uh, Yukina, you have a visitor," Kawano into the microphone the woman had been using. "This is Kisa Shouta. He edited the manga of the series you're singing for…"

Yukina was out of the recording booth faster than Kisa could aware a man could move, and he bowed deeply. "It's good to meet you. I love this series; I bought all the tankobon!" He had a sparkly aura Kisa wasn't aware actually existed.

Kisa was speechless for a few seconds before something clicked in his brain, and he said, "Oh. You're that famous singer who got this to be so popular…"

"I suppose so," Yukina said with a bright smile. Kisa felt like he'd need sunglasses soon if he had to put up with this any longer. He also felt like he'd need to be tied down and thrown out soon because he knew he'd start flirting with this man, and what chance did he have with a famous singer?

Luckily for him, his phone beeped with a new text message, and Kisa took it out of his pocket. He frowned as he read it. "Ah, I'd love to stay, but that was my boss. I need to get back to Marukawa." He glanced at Kawano. "If you need anything, I gave your manager my card."

Yukina seemed like he wanted to say something, but Kisa just turned, sent a vague wave behind him, and was gone. He felt like that meeting definitely could've gone worse.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Kisa had a few options for what he could do after work that night: he could just go home, he could go to a bar and find a man to sleep with or, as he observed when he passed by a bookstore that was between Marukawa and his apartment, he could stalk Yukina Kou. The man was going into Marimo Books without a care in the world, and Kisa couldn't help but be curious as to why a famous singer was lurking among the lowly middle class.

He wouldn't call himself a stalker; in fact, this had to be the first time he'd ever been interested enough in a man to follow him like this. Yukina didn't seem to notice Kisa was tailing him, so at least Kisa could feel less guilty as he followed Yukina right into the shoujo manga section. Kisa couldn't help but be puzzled, but Yukina finally looked his way and Kisa bolted behind a shelf before he could be seen.

"Yukina-kun!"

Kisa knit his eyebrows at the honorific. Using "-kun" seemed entirely too familiar. Kisa had been into Marimo a lot since he started working for Marukawa, and he was sure he would've remembered seeing someone like Yukina Kou. He wasn't someone you missed, let along forgot.

He peeked around the shelf and watched as Yukina talked to the clerk. He had picked up a copy of the newest Emerald Monthly since Kia last looked. He was chatting away about one of the titles, and when Kisa actually listened, it seemed he was going on about the last chapter of Girls Master.

Girls Master was, of course, one of Kisa's titles.

Kisa could feel himself blushing when he realized that Yukina liked more than one of his titles. He liked the Strawberry series obviously, since that was the one he had said he loved and got all the tankobon for. Then again, if he was getting the entire magazine, didn't that just mean he liked shoujo manga? Perhaps he had realized Kisa was also the editor of Girls Master so was paying special attention to it.

Kisa shook his head. Why was he making a big deal out of this, anyway? It wasn't like he'd ever talk to this man again. Perhaps he went in to Marimo to buy copies of Emerald Monthly instead of subscribing to it for one reason or another, but that didn't mean it was automatically easy to figure out his schedule or anything.

Not that he was trying to figure out the man's schedule or anything. It would probably be easier to find a curious and tipsy man at a bar than to try to seduce some young, pop idol heartthrob into his bed. He probably wasn't even into men, and why would he be? He had plenty of opportunity to date women, given his position.

Kisa sighed and was ready to go home when Yukina finished talking to the clerk. Unfortunately for him, Kisa was still right in plain sight, and instead of ignoring him, Yukina actually went over with a smile on his face. "Your name is Kisa Shouta, right? We met at the studio…"

By this time, Kisa was looking for a way out; there was no way this encounter could end any way but badly. They were also getting stares, considering everyone seemed to know who Yukina Kou was and were rightfully wondering why the hell he was talking to this random guy. Of course they could have also been wondering why he was in this bookstore in the first place.

"Uh, yes, right," Kisa said, because Yukina was quite obviously not leaving him alone until he said something. "What are you doing out here?"

"I used to work here at Marimo so I like to support them when I can," Yukina answered, holding up the issue of Emerald to demonstrate. "Kawano-san says if I want a magazine I should get a subscription so I don't have to go out whenever there's a new issue, but that's not as fun."

"…you used to work here?" Kisa asked, honestly curious. He had only a rough idea of how old Yukina actually was, but it made sense that he hadn't always been a singer. If he was fairly new at it, he could have had a mundane job like bookstore clerk.

"Yes, until a couple years ago," Yukina answered. He didn't seem to be aware that people were openly staring at them at this point. Then again, since they were in the middle of the shoujo manga section, there were mostly teenage girls and they were his demographic, after all. "When I was nineteen I was scouted as a model and there wasn't exactly time for it anymore, between that and still going to university."

Kisa resisted the urge to say that it was fairly easy to believe that he had been scouted as a model. Even though Yukina wasn't aware of the girls staring at them, he was probably very aware of just how good-looking he was. Kisa was sure people told it to him all the time, at any rate. "Ah, I see," Kisa said, averting his eyes. Yukina was smiling brightly at that point, as if he were the happiest man alive just because he was there, talking with Kisa. He couldn't imagine why, but then, Kisa wasn't so easily pleased.

Suddenly, though, Yukina seemed to realize something. "Ah, have you had dinner yet, Kisa-san?"

"…no?" Kisa said, forming it in a question just because he felt like he had missed something in their conversation.

"I was about to go get something to eat. Would you like to join me? We didn't really get to talk in the studio…"

Kisa felt like he was going to choke at that, and Yukina looked at him with concern. Kisa nodded though, despite himself. There was a war going on inside his mind: on the one hand, he was being asked out by the most handsome man he'd ever laid his eyes on. On the other hand, even if it was kind of a date, Kisa still doubted that Yukina was gay and so it was a waste of his time when he could be out looking for men who'd actually sleep with him.

No matter what his mind was telling him though, he found himself following Yukina and waiting for him to pay for the magazine so they could leave the store. Kisa had a feeling Yukina would want to pay for the meal anyway, so who was he to reject free food, even if it didn't result in anything?

One part of the conversation came to the front of Kisa's mind, though, and as they were leaving Marimo Books (still being stared at by passerby, and Yukina still didn't seem to notice) Kisa said, "Wait. If you were nineteen two years ago, that makes you twenty-one." Yukina nodded. "And you're still in college?"

"Yes," Yukina said. "Kawano-san thinks I should drop out, since I already have a career but… my major has nothing to do with singing."

"Then you're in school for…"

"Painting," Yukina answered. "My focus is oil painting but I do other things as well."

By then they had gotten to a fast food restaurant, and Yukina seemed to think that was acceptable enough for dinner. Of course Kisa was always eating things like this so he didn't mind. He was mostly thinking about what Yukina. He was handsome, he seemed to be nice, and he was an artist. He was, in Kisa's eyes at least, the perfect man.

"Is something wrong, Kisa-san?" Yukina asked when he noticed Kisa staring at him. Kisa shook his head. "Anyway, what do you want?"

"…ah, whatever," Kisa said, glancing at the menu. "I'm not picky."

Yukina nodded, and as Kisa suspected, he pretty much just assumed that he'd be paying for all the food. Kisa took the opportunity to go find a table, one that was in a corner away from the large window that exposed the restaurant to the street. He'd gotten enough teenage girls staring between him and Yukina just on the way there. If Kisa had to say, he really didn't like drawing attention to himself. That may have seemed counterproductive when it came to picking up men, but Kisa was the first to admit that in situations like those, he exhibited a kind of confidence people didn't normally see in him.

Yukina ended up just getting Kisa a burger and fries, being afraid that Kisa wasn't as open as he said he was and would end up not liking it if he got him anything less basic.

"As a side note, though…" Yukina said, watching as Kisa tucked right into the burger. A bit of sauce trickled down his chin, and Yukina was tempted to wipe it away. He averted his eyes. "I probably won't be a singer long enough to call it a career. So college is a good idea, right?"

"Ha, yeah right," Kisa said despite himself. "You have the kind of face that could last a long time."

"What do you mean by that?" Yukina tilted his head and blinked, and Kisa was reminded of just how naïve this man really seemed to be.

"I mean that you'll have fans even as you get older, is all," Kisa said. "You're… really good looking and that appeals to people." He could feel his face going red, so he tried to hide himself behind the burger again.

Yukina seemed to consider this as he ate a fry. "Is that the kind of thing you like, Kisa-san?"

Kisa froze at that. He'd known this man for less than a day and he already seemed to be making correct assumptions about him. To cover up his discomfort, he said, "Ha, I don't know what I like. I've never had a serious relationship." He wasn't sure if that was the best thing to say, but it at least wouldn't be admitting he was gay to a man he barely knew.

"Well, there's plenty of time for you to find someone special," Yukina said mildly.

"…not really," Kisa averted his eyes and played with the straw in his soda. "I turned thirty this year. I kind of feel like I've expired." When he looked up, Yukina was just staring at him. "What?"

"You're how old?" Yukina asked, eyebrows raised up into his hairline.

Kisa sighed and produced his ID, a move he'd gotten used to over the years since he pretty much stopped aging at twenty. "How old did you think I was?"

"I don't know," Yukina said with a sheepish smile, handing Kisa back his ID. "I thought you might have just been really good so they hired you early…"

"Yeah right," Kisa said, rolling his eyes. "I've worked at Marukawa for years but they seem to enjoy reminding me that there's only so much I can do."

"But you did such a good job with Strawberry," Yukina said, his voice earnest.

"Yeah, and I worked equally hard on Girls Master, Choco Kiss, Mushroom's Bamboo Mountain…" Kisa trailed off when Yukina started giving him a strange look, and he shook his head. "The old sayings are wrong, you know. Just because you work hard doesn't mean you get further in life."

"But those are my favorites!" Yukina said, still earnest. He actually leaned forward a little, and Kisa leaned back, afraid Yukina might actually jump over the table at him. "You'd consider yourself a success if you sold a lot of copies, right?"

"I guess." Kisa cringed. He hated himself for bringing this up with this man he barely knew. Usually the complaints about not selling tankobon and going nowhere with his career were reserved for his internal monologues, but there was something about Yukina that made Kisa just keep talking. And that wasn't exactly a good thing if he was going to establish that he wasn't sleeping with this man. "But that's not happening."

"Well… the Strawberry series sold a lot because I mentioned it in an interview," Yukina said. "They asked my hobbies, and when I said I read manga, they asked me which ones I like."

"You're suggesting that just mentioning any of my titles would make your fans go out and buy them," Kisa said, his voice deadpan. When Yukina nodded earnestly, Kisa said, "I honestly can't imagine having that kind of power over people. And why would you do something like that in the first place?"

The sparkly smile was back on Yukina's face, and Kisa was tempted to squint. "Because now that I know all my titles are by the same person, I feel like I should help out!"

"Then why not promote the mangaka?" Kisa turned away and started fiddling with the straw again.

"Well… it would be helping them out too, of course," Yukina answered. "But… I always felt like those titles had the same kind of atmosphere. The stories and characters were all different but there was just something about them all that I liked. And now I know it was because you worked on them all." Yukina's smile grew even brighter. "If selling copies would help you, Kisa-san, I wouldn't mind at all."

"Probably wouldn't be much use to tell you not to," Kisa said, sighing. And why would he? Yukina was offering to make his fans aware of Kisa's titles, and if he really was as famous as Kisa suspected, that could potentially be a lot of sales.

"And anyway, I like you," Yukina said. When Kisa looked alarmed, Yukina continued with, "You talk to me normally, like you don't care that I'm famous. The only people I manage to have decent conversations with regularly are Kawano-san and the woman who comes in to clean my apartment for me."

Kisa ducked his head; he hadn't even thought about it that way, just that he'd been talking with Yukina about various things and couldn't seem to put the filter on his mouth that was usually there. Before he could comment on this, though, his phone went off. He half-expected it to be Takano, saying that he needed to get something or other done.

He narrowed his eyes when he saw the number, though. Yukina looked concerned as Kisa dismissed the call. "Is something wrong?"

"No," Kisa muttered, turning his phone off. That particular man had been calling a few times an hour for a week now, and he was getting sick of it. He had blocked one number but he had somehow managed to call from another. "It's just… this person who wants to go out with me. I keep saying no, but I don't think they take me seriously."

Kisa stared down at his food as Yukina remained silent. He'd managed to not include gender in the explanation, but he still felt like Yukina was somehow judging him. He had finished his burger in his attempt to pay attention to anything but Yukina, so he picked up his fry container and said, "I should probably get home, though. I have work tomorrow so…" He bowed and didn't give Yukina a chance to reply, just running for it.

Well, Kisa thought as he stopped running after he turned a corner, he was nothing if not consistent when it came to the prospect of lasting relationships.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Kisa was puzzled as he looked at the sales chart for his titles. It was the start of a new month, and he'd received his sales for August. In the last week, sales for almost all his tankobon that were still in stores had gone up significantly. He knit his eyebrows and folded his legs Indian-style as he stared at the graphs.

"Oh wow."

Kisa looked to see Ritsu was staring at the document for himself. His eyes were wide, and Kisa couldn't help but smile. He found Ritsu cute, and to be frank, he probably would have tried to pursue him if he thought it was a good idea at all. The men he usually slept with were buffer guys, ones who saw themselves as incredibly masculine. Ritsu was probably as delicate as people though Kisa was.

"What do you think caused it?" Ritsu asked as Kisa scrolled through the data.

Kisa shut his laptop and shrugged, but he had some idea. He hadn't seen Yukina Kou since that day at the restaurant, but he'd received texts. At first he'd wondered how Yukina even got his number, but then he remembered handing off his business card to Kawano. Yukina seemed determined to keep in contact with him, and Kisa was, frankly, baffled as to why. The man had clearly been good on his word, though. Even the more popular titles almost never saw this kind of sudden surge.

His cell phone suddenly went off, and he made sure that Ritsu was occupied with his own work again before checking his texts. It was from Yukina and simply asked "Would you like to go out today?" Kisa flipped his phone shut without answering. The prospect of seeing Yukina caused conflict in Kisa: on the one hand, he was handsome, friendly, a painter, and seemed to genuinely like Kisa. On the other hand, he radiated sex appeal that, based on his music's demographic, caught him all the girls he'd ever need. What chance did a perverted gay man nine years his senior stand, anyway?

Emerald was lively since it was the start of the cycle, and the stuffed animals that had been angrily thrown from Kisa's desk had returned. He took a Tinkle doll, squeezing the soft fabric before placing it in his arms and hugging it to him. His phone went off again, and he expected it to be Yukina again. His eye twitched when he saw it was the same man who'd called him the first time he was out with Yukina. The man had been calling and texting him constantly, to the point where Kisa had considered getting a new phone solely to have a block function. He ignored the text and went back to Yukina's.

There was still very little chance of something happening between them, in Kisa's point of view. It couldn't hurt to go out one more time and admire the eye candy though, could it? Surely Yukina was used to being around people who admired him for his looks. He wouldn't mind.

xxx

Kisa wasn't sure why, but he had been convinced that Yukina would be dressed a lot more elaborately than he was when the two met up at a café near Marukawa. He looked like any other college student hanging around the place, though. In fact, he looked a bit scruffier than some of them, but that might have been because his hair was in disarray and there were splotches of paint on his face. Kisa couldn't, of course, forget that he was an art student, and figured that he had just gotten out of class before the time the two agreed to meet.

It made him seem human, Kisa realized, even with that blindingly sparkly aura that flared up as soon as the man saw him cross the room. He still attracted attention even with his shabby appearance, and when he called out "Kisa-san!" all eyes went to Kisa, trying to discern who this god of a man was so happy to see. Kisa couldn't help but feel like each and every person whose eyes followed him across the room were judging him. He reluctantly sat down in the seat across from Yukina, thankful that they had something between them even if it was just this small table.

"It's good to see you again, Kisa-san," he said with a bright smile. Kisa glanced down at the sketchbook on the table, and he smiled even brighter. "I don't get nearly as much time to draw as I'd like. Kawano-san always has me running around doing this or that. So I thought I'd do some while I was waiting for you."

"Sounds like a pain in the ass…" Kisa said, his hands in his lap and his eyes averted so he wouldn't have to look directly at Yukina. He'd fully intended to go into that café and appreciate the handsome (but unattainable) man in front of him, but now he found it hard to do so. There seemed to be something different about Kisa's ideas of how he could interact with Yukina and how it actually happened.

Yukina thanked the waitress when she brought over a steaming cup of coffee, and when the woman turned to Kisa, he waved her off. He wasn't hungry or thirsty. In fact, he had a feeling that anything he ingested would just come right back up to haunt him with the state his nerves were currently in.

Yukina smiled over his cup and said, "He can be a bit obsessive sometimes, but he means well. And I wouldn't be as successful as I am right now without him." He glanced over at his art. "And he's the one that convinced the producers to let my illustrate the booklets for my singles and albums, so at least I can do the thing I love most at least a little."

Kisa tilted his head. "If you don't like singing, why do you do it?"

"Ah, I have no problem with singing, but it just… happened, I suppose," Yukina said, staring into his coffee as he took a sip. He nodded out the window, where Marimo Books could be seen standing tall down the street. "When I still worked at Marimo, I was scouted as a model. I didn't really want to, since I was happy with my job, but I tried a few gigs and it paid a lot more. And eventually they decided I should try singing. Every star needs to be multi-talented, right?" His smile was a lot warmer at this, and Kisa found that he was able to look at Yukina with only the faintest of blushes on his cheeks, which he could've blamed on the general heat of the place because of the ovens they made the baked goods in. "Did you… always want to work with manga, Kisa-san?"

"Not really." Kisa leaned forward, cupping his cheek with his hand. "I didn't know what I wanted to do when I was a kid. I was top of my class and that was really all. I did like to draw, but I think I went to school for art just to piss my parents off. It didn't work." Kisa laughed a little. "Well, if they hadn't disowned me by then, I doubt they would've. And I was still going to college."

"Why would they have disowned you?"

Kisa stopped at that, and he stared at Yukina like he'd just spoken in an obscure African language. He doubted that Yukina would understand about him finding out he was gay and proceeding to sleep with any male who would let him touch him. It was an unfair judgment, perhaps, because he was in his twenties and was famous- surely he wasn't an innocent virgin? "I did a lot of stupid shit as a teenager," he settled for instead, ducking his head so he wouldn't have to see Yukina's expression. "But I guess my parents didn't care. It's not like I ever really got hurt."

"Ah, I see."

"And what about you?"

"Not especially," Yukina said, putting his cup down. "I studied hard and spent a lot of my time drawing when I was growing up. And I'm a scholarship student. I doubt my parents would've been able to pay for T University on their own."

Of course he was as pure as the princes Kisa was sure his fans compared him to (and that he had perhaps compared Yukina to a few times since they met).

"Anyway, Kisa-san, how have your sales been going?" Yukina had that sparkly smile on again, and he leaned forward a little, making Kisa feel uncomfortable.

"…amazingly, actually," Kisa said. "I just saw the sales for August today and they've shot up in the past week. I'm guessing that has to do with you?"

Yukina grinned. "Of course, Kisa-san. I told you I'd help you, right?"

At this, Kisa couldn't help but laugh and sit back in his seat. "You really are amazing, you know that? How the hell did you manage it in such a short time."

"I have my ways…" He glanced off to the side, and when Kisa did as well, he saw that they were still being subtly watched by some of the patrons in the café. "Ah, Kisa-san, I'm finished with this, so would you mind if we go for a walk?"

Kisa really couldn't argue against it, so he just nodded and stood up. Yukina went to the register and paid for his drink, and then they stepped out.

"Shit, it's raining," Kisa said with a frown, staring up at the sky. It had been cloudy all day, but the forecast had assured that there was a very low chance of rain until the next day. And that was why Kisa hated weathermen. Not that he usually had the time to go out and enjoy weather when it was nice.

"I have an umbrella, Kisa-san," Yukina said with a smile, pulling it from the stand over by the door. It was pink and translucent, with a cherry blossom pattern chained along the edges. Kisa couldn't help but feel like it fit this sparkly man. He gazed up at Yukina as the man opened the umbrella. They were both standing under the overhang in front of the café, and the rain was dripping from the eaves.

"Kisa-san?" Yukina asked when he noticed that Kisa was staring at him. Kisa didn't respond other than to gulp and avert his eyes with a blush.

Yukina looked deep in thought. And then, instead of holding the umbrella above them both and stepping out into the rain, he tilted it so it blocked passerby's view of them, leaned down, and kissed Kisa.

Kisa tensed when he felt Yukina's lips meet his. Kissing back wasn't even something that crossed his mind; he just stood there, body frozen and mind completely blank of thoughts that didn't involve "Holy shit what's happening?" Yukina was the one to break the kiss, and without his amazingly soft lips there, Kisa finally got the state of mind to say, "That's… not a very good joke."

"It wasn't meant as a joke, Kisa-san," Yukina said, his face solemn.

Kisa opened his mouth to speak, but he found he couldn't really form any words. He averted his eyes in time to spot a familiar man, and he tensed up again. It was the one who'd been constantly calling and texting him; he'd tried to approach him more than once as well, and if nothing else, Kisa remembered the faces of his stalkers. The man was approaching the café from across the street despite that the crosswalk light wasn't green.

And then Kisa did the only thing he could think to do to keep the guy from approaching him: he pulled Yukina down into another kiss, burying his hands in Yukina's soft hair and closing his eyes as he let the feeling wash over him. Yukina put his hands on Kisa's shoulders, more than willing to comply, and Kisa soon found himself pressed up against the wall of the café beside the door.

By the time they parted, Kisa felt lightheaded, but he was able to look around and see that his stalker was nowhere to be found. Yukina still had his hands on Kisa's shoulders, and he shrugged them off. "…sorry about that," he said, keeping his eyes on the ground.

"Kisa-san-"

"No, I have to get home. I'll see you later." He gave Yukina his best fake smile before waving and taking off through the rain.


	4. Chapter 4

In the past few days, Kisa had taken to hiding out in places he knew his stalker wouldn't find him. His stalker, of course, wasn't Yukina but the man he'd slept with a while back and insisted on trying to get into contact with him again. Kisa didn't want to actually talk to the guy, but given that he hadn't given up after seeing him and Yukina kissing outside the café, he had a feeling that was the only thing left he could do short of filing a restraining order.

It was when he was in Marimo Books that he encountered Yukina again. It wasn't like he was trying to find the man or anything; in fact, Marimo Books had been a place Kisa spent much of his free time before he even knew that Yukina Kou existed, and he wasn't going to change his habits just because he might run into him again. Of course, he was changing his habits so he wouldn't be found by one of his stalkers, but as far as Kisa was concerned, those were two entirely different things. He'd received a grand total of one text from Yukina since that day at the café.

He was lurking around the shoujo section when he saw Yukina. The man was talking to the clerk, his aura flared up more than usual as he held a tankobon in his hands. He really did seem to genuinely like manga, and Kisa couldn't help but smile. Yukina didn't seem to notice him, though, just lurking there among the shelves and only half-reading a magazine. Kisa couldn't help but watch him, though, and remember the kisses from a few days ago.

Did he have a chance with Yukina? He wasn't an optimistic person by any definition of the word, but Yukina had seemed pretty willing with those kisses. Kisa had been attracted to the man from the moment he saw him but then again, that was nothing new. He always fell for guys with nice faces and terrible personalities. Yukina was too perfect to be true, and he probably wasn't. There had to be something about him that would make Kisa not want to be with him, whether it was for a relationship or just a one-night stand.

Not that Kisa even wanted a relationship. He hadn't had a proper one yet, and he wasn't going to have one now.

"Shouta!"

Kisa jumped in surprise at hearing his given name called out like that, and he looked up from his magazine to see his stalker approaching. He panicked, of course, because he had thought that Marimo Books was one of his safe places. He had no idea what this man did for a living, though. Hell, he had no idea what the man's name even was. He quickly put the magazine away and tried to run for it, but the man grabbed him by his arm, and he found that he couldn't tug it away.

"I've been trying to talk to you since that night," the man said, seeming to have no idea just how pissed-off he was making Kisa. He even ignored when Kisa looked very pointedly at the arm he was grabbing. "Why haven't you answered any of my calls?"

"Because we're not going out," Kisa said, narrowing his eyes to slits. "We slept together once."

"I won't accept that!" He started to pull Kisa with him, though to where, Kisa had no idea. He tried to pull away again, but the man's grip was so strong that he found he couldn't. "You're not dating anyone right now, so why can't you be with me?"

"Because you're insane!" Kisa yelled. "You've been calling and texting me constantly, and you stalk me all around the city! Now let go of my fucking arm!"

The man refused to, but that didn't mean it wasn't going to happen. Someone grabbed the man's arm and yanked it away from Kisa. The man's fingernails dug into him for a split second before he was forced to let go, and Kisa winced, taking his arm back and rubbing at the place where the man had been holding it. When Kisa and the man both looked, it was Yukina who had intervened.

"What the hell do you want?" the man asked, narrowing his eyes at Yukina even though Yukina was a good several inches taller than him and would probably have won if they got into a physical confrontation. Not that he expected Yukina to care enough to fight this man, or wanted him to, considering they were still in the middle of Marimo Books' shoujo manga section. He didn't want them all to be tossed out and, quite possibly, reported to the police.

"I'd appreciate if you didn't touch Kisa-san like that," Yukina said with a smile on his face that sent shivers down Kisa's spine. He was suddenly very aware of the meaning of that old phrase 'the smiling devil.' "He clearly doesn't want you to."

"What do you have to do with it, anyway?" the man asked, sounding pissed-off as he yanked his arm out of Yukina's grip.

Kisa was looking all around, trying to decide if Yukina had distracted the man enough for him to just escape. He was about to make a run for it, too, but then he heard Yukina say, "Well, Kisa-san and I are going out, of course."

There was an awkward silence between all of them, although it probably wasn't awkward for Yukina, who just kept standing there, smiling. Kisa found that he was able to run for it like he had planned, though, and he heard the man yell, "Shouta!" before he made it out of the front doors of Marimo and had to stop to catch his breath at the railing across the street from the building. He couldn't remember the last time he'd fled so hard, and he wasn't sure if he was running from his stalker or Yukina, after he had said they were dating.

The first person that left the building after Kisa was the man, and he went right for Kisa, knocking into a few pedestrians along the way. Kisa narrowed his eyes and glanced behind him, considering if it would be worth it to just jump over the railing. The street wasn't too far below, and he would probably be lucky enough to land on someone or something that would break his fall.

"Shouta, that can't be true what that man said." The man had his eyes narrowed when Kisa turned around to look at him. He didn't look nearly as menacing as Yukina had, though.

Speaking of Yukina, however, he was leaving the bookstore and crossing the walkway . So Kisa said, "Yeah, it's true. Why wouldn't it be? He's ten times better looking than you. Maybe a hundred, even."

The man narrowed his eyes just as Yukina approached, a much friendlier smile on his face. "Are you ready to go, Kisa-san?"

Kisa, of course, had made no plans with Yukina. He hadn't even known he'd be seeing him that day, and had only hung around Marimo Books long enough for this to happen because he couldn't help but want to stare at the man. Despite this, though, he nodded, and he let Yukina take his arm and guide him through the crowd. He glanced back at the man, who was watching them in disbelief. Kisa couldn't help but smirking at it, and he turned back to Yukina.

"…uh, you can let go of me now," he said, trying to tug his arm back. Yukina seemed to realize that he was doing about the same thing that the man had done, so he smiled and let go. "Uh, anyway, thanks for saving me back there, but you didn't really need to say we were dating to get rid of him." Kisa laughed a bit, nervously. "I'm sure it isn't that good for a pop star's reputation to go around saying he's dating a man when he's supposed to appeal to hormonally-excited teenage girls, right?"

He'd been purposefully avoiding looking at Yukina, but when he did, he saw that Yukina was looking right back at him with a serious expression on his face. He gulped thickly right as Yukina said, "I don't care about that, Kisa-san. Love is love, right?"

"Ha, right," Kisa said, averting his eyes again. Of course he didn't care that they were both men, because that was the only kind of relationship he knew. "Not that you love me or anything, right?"

"…that's not true, Kisa-san," Yukina said, and he started walking again. Some people they passed by stared at him, though Kisa wasn't sure if it was because they recognized him or if it was simply because of his looks.

Kisa didn't know why he was following Yukina at this point, but Yukina didn't seem to mind. He decided to ignore for now that Yukina was implying that he loved him, and instead said, "Um, where are you taking me, anyway?"

"Hmm?" Yukina glanced back at him. "I was going home actually. Did you want to come as well, Kisa-san?"

Kisa froze at that, right outside the subway station. He glanced around like he thought whatever he could do next was being filmed. Of course he would have loved to go home with Yukina, but he was famous; Kisa was honestly surprised that he hadn't been harassed by tabloid journalists wanting some kind of story on Yukina. And by story, Kisa of course meant scandal.

"…um, sure," Kisa eventually said, though, and he refused to look at Yukina as a light blush came to his cheeks. "I need to thank you for back there, anyway." He nodded down the street towards Marimo Books. The man had disappeared, though, for which Kisa was thankful. Of course, Kisa was well aware just what could be implied by him saying he needed to thank Yukina, but he'd let the meaning of that statement be left to the listener.

Yukina smiled and led the way.

xxx

Yukina didn't live in a mansion as Kisa had briefly thought as they rode the subway towards their destination. He did, however, live in an apartment that easily dwarfed Kisa's own. The kitchen itself could probably house Kisa's entire apartment, and he couldn't help but feel himself getting jealous as he took his shoes off in the genkan and looked all around. "Oh wow," he said.

"Do you like it?" Yukina smiled. "It is kind of big but… well, I have someone come in to clean it for me most days, so it's not like it takes a lot of work or anything. And I have plenty of room for all my things."

Kisa nodded, stepping out of the genkan and looking around again. There were a couple of bedrooms and what seemed like a third one but when Kisa glanced in the open door, he saw that it was being used mostly for storage. When he turned away from his examination of that particular room, he jumped a bit in surprise to see that Yukina was looking directly at him. "W-what?"

Yukina smiled and said, "Would you like something to drink, Kisa-san? I have tea, and coffee."

"Ah, coffee's fine," Kisa said, relief in his voice. He wasn't sure why he was nervous; didn't the fact that Yukina had invited him over to his house imply they were going to have sex? And sex was something that Kisa was good at. For some reason, though, the prospect of actually having sex with Yukina Kou made him feel like he was sixteen and a blushing virgin again. "I'm, ah, sorry you got caught up in that incident earlier, by the way…" Kisa sat down on the floor, forgoing the couch since it made him even more nervous for whatever reason.

"It's all right, Kisa-san!" Yukina called from the kitchen.

Kisa sighed and laid on his back, staring up at the ceiling. "No it's not. Now there will probably be rumors about you being gay."

"Is that really such a bad thing, Kisa-san?"

Kisa blinked and looked over to see Yukina had already finished their drinks and was holding a mug out to him. He frowned as he took it. "Well yeah. It can't be good for your reputation…"

Yukina sighed and sat down beside Kisa, putting his own mug of coffee on the coffee table beside him. "I doubt it would do that much… especially if I were with you, Kisa-san."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You're… cute," Yukina said with a smile. "I think my fans would like you." He glanced over to see Kisa sporting an extremely sour face, so he added, "Not that that's the reason I want to be with you, Kisa-san."

Kisa was about to sit up, but at those words, he froze. Then he started laughing, though all it did was serve to make him sound a bit manic. "Yeah right. Like you'd want to be with someone like me."

"And why wouldn't I?"

"I'm… just a perverted old man," Kisa said, finally sitting up. "I'm glad that you like my titles, but I'm pretty sure you're mistaking admiration for love."

"No I'm not!"

Kisa jumped in surprise at how passionate Yukina sounded, and he couldn't help but lean away a little, afraid about what might happen to him.

"Kisa-san… what about those kisses we shared? I was trying to tell you back then how I felt…" He looked hurt at the thought that Kisa was dismissing his feelings so easily. But then he pulled Kisa to him, and their lips locked, with Kisa's eyes going wide. Yukina wasn't giving up, though, and so he eventually let his eyes fall closed. Yukina licked at Kisa's bottom lip, and Kisa immediately opened his mouth, letting Yukina's tongue slip in and twist with his.

Neither of them heard the door open, of course, but they did hear the woman say, "Yukina-san, I hope you're home since the door was unlocked!" Yukina didn't pull away until Kisa opened his eyes and saw the woman who had just spoken standing there in the doorway, gaping at them.

"Ah, good afternoon, Yamada-san," Yukina said with a smile, doing his best to bow. The woman just kept gaping at them.

"Who's that?" Kisa hissed as Yukina picked up his coffee.

"Yamada-san. She cleans for me."

"Does she always come in at this time?"

"No, it tends to vary, since she has other jobs…" Yukina glanced over at Kisa. "Is something the matter, Kisa-san?"

"I'm going home." Kisa stood, completely disregarding the mug of coffee beside him. He hadn't taken a single drink from it, in fact.

"Ah, we can talk over there, if you like," Yukina said with a smile, standing up as well. Yamada-san just kept standing there, speechless.

Kisa was in the genkan by the time Yukina caught up with him, and he had no idea why, but instead of telling him to leave him alone, he said, "Yeah. I guess."


	5. Chapter 5

As soon as they got to the apartment, Kisa had expected Yukina to want to have some long, drawn-out talk about what they had just gone through. Yukina just seemed like the kind of person who needed to talk about feelings, even if they had been on the verge of throwing each other's clothes off before the man's housekeeper came in and interrupted them.

"Your apartment is nice, Kisa-san," Yukina said with a smile, putting his bag down in the genkan and slipping off his shoes. Kisa, of course, couldn't help but feel like Yukina was just saying that to be nice, considering Kisa had seen his own apartment and knew he had a higher standard of living than some poor, overworked shoujo manga editor. Kisa got a pretty good salary, but he never had the time to use it for anything other than throwing it at the bill collectors a few times a month.

Kisa turned to say something to the effect of 'make yourself at home' but what he found was a face full of Yukina, the man pushing his lips against his and tangling his hands in Kisa's hair for what Kisa presumed was supposed to be a better grip. He didn't kiss back, instead frowning and keeping his lips firmly shut when he felt Yukina's probing tongue. Finally Yukina seemed to get it, and he pulled away. "Kisa-san? What's the matter?"

"You!" Kisa said, pulling his shoes off without untying them and stomping through his apartment to the small kitchen. It was a narrow space, but there was enough room for two people to move around if they didn't care about knocking elbows and brushing up against each other every now and then. Yukina followed him right into it, watching as the older man rummaged around in his cabinets for something. When he finally found two mugs, some worn and chipped little numbers with faded blue coloring, he whirled around to face Yukina. "I don't get you!"

"What's to get, Kisa-san?"

Kisa scowled at that and pushed past Yukina towards his coffee maker, not even bothering to ask what Yukina wanted to drink or if he even wanted one in the first place. "Everything! You're a famous singer but here you are, standing in my apartment waiting for instant coffee and looking like you couldn't be happier."

"Just because I could do anything in the world doesn't make any of those other options better for me, Kisa-san," Yukina said, a slight edge to his voice that he hoped would let Kisa know he was serious. He watched as Kisa got the coffee beans and poured them into the machine. "I told you, Kisa-san, I really like you…"

Kisa finally set the coffee maker to do its task, and he turned around to find Yukina was right there again. He frowned as the man wrapped his arms around him and brought his chin up so that they could kiss again. "Yeah, you said that," he muttered against Yukina's lips. Since he had to open his mouth to speak, he ended up letting Yukina slip his tongue in there, and he let out a small moan as their tongues rubbed against each other. The only noise in the apartment was the ticking of Kisa's wall clock, the steady gurgling from the coffee maker, and Kisa's soft moans as Yukina ravished his mouth.

His hazy mind was preventing him from really thinking anything, but he vaguely recalled that it hadn't been that long since he'd had sex with a guy, so he shouldn't have been that worked up just over a kiss. The more dominant side of his mind seemed to be the part that really wanted sex, though, and so he didn't push Yukina away until he found that breathing through his nose wasn't adequate anymore.

Yukina obviously wasn't done, though, because the man moved down so he could whisper in Kisa's ear. "Don't you want to continue where we left off, Kisa-san?" He kissed the shell of Kisa's ear before moving back around to kiss him on the lips again, pulling Kisa flush against his body. Kisa's body temperature had skyrocketed just from the kisses, and between his heat and Yukina's, he felt like he was in the middle of a sauna.

When he realized what Yukina seemed to want to do, though, he narrowed his eyes and pushed the man to a more tolerable distance. "What, you want to fuck me? I somehow doubt you've ever even been with another guy. I've had more than my share of amateurs in my life."

This actually gave Yukina pause, but he still held Kisa as close as possible as he looked up at the ceiling, probably contemplating the dilemma. Kisa rolled his eyes. Yukina's decision that he was in love with him didn't seem to be one that had just suddenly come up that day, but it looked like he hadn't really thought about just what a relationship between two men entailed.

The coffeemaker was still going as they just stood there, Kisa getting increasingly irritated and Yukina contemplating a solution to the problem. If Yukina didn't do something soon, though, Kisa was tempted to just kick the guy out. If he wanted sex, there were easier and less headache-inducing ways of doing it.

"Well," Yukina finally said, and Kisa looked up into his eyes. "Maybe we can't do… that… right away, but I do know about other things."

Kisa narrowed his eyes, wondering why Yukina was talking about this like they had already agreed about it. The guy has so much confidence, although Kisa supposed that he should have expected as much. He was a famous singer, and when it came down to it, he was probably used to getting anything he wanted. And he had made it very clear that right now, he wanted Kisa.

"You're still an amateur," Kisa muttered, staring down at the floor. He could just feel the smile radiating on Yukina's face, though, so he looked up and added, "Although I suppose I could always teach you."

Needless to say, neither of them thought to unplug the coffeemaker.

By the time Kisa had dragged Yukina into his bedroom and stripped him of his clothing, it was obvious that the man had already become aroused before they even got in there. Since Yukina had said they didn't have to do anything too "advanced" Kisa had thought that he could just give the guy a bowjob and he'd be satisfied. Because of that, he didn't take off his clothes as he laid there on his stomach between Yukina's legs.

"Kisa-san…" Yukina stared down at Kisa as he took the man in hand, looking like he had no idea what was going on. If Kisa didn't know any better, he would have thought the guy had never even had a relationship, let alone had someone, man or woman, willing to give him a blowjob.

Of course, when it came right down to it, it didn't really matter if Yukina knew what he was supposed to do in a situation like this. Kisa was completely in charge, which was a rare thing for him. He was almost always the submissive one in bed. It probably had to do with the fact that he looked so young; a lot of the guys he was with always saw a cute, innocent little kid when they agreed to sleep with him, and so they felt the need to "teach him" rather than seeing if he knew what he was doing.

Kisa pushed those thoughts out of his mind and leaned down, pushing his lips over the tip of Yukina's cock and flicking his tongue out. He immediately got a groan out of Yukina, and he rolled his eyes. He had a feeling that this was going to be far too easy. Without waiting to do any sort of teasing, considering Yukina was already appropriately aroused, Kisa went down on him as far as he could before swallowing around Yukina's erection and pulling back. He continued bobbing, placing his hands on either of Yukina's hips for leverage. Even though he hadn't intended for himself to get off while doing this, he couldn't help but get just a little aroused as he listened to Yukina moan.

"Kisa-san… you're so amazing at this," Yukina said, and then he groaned again, arching his back. Kisa pulled away from him long enough to get a few good breaths, and then he went down again, bobbing his head even faster and cupping Yukina's balls with one hand, fondling them. He had to say that he kind of liked a guy telling him how good he was at something for a change. It was true that guys would often tell him how cute he was, or how tight he was when it got down to sex, but when he gave a guy a blowjob, they'd always be too busy trying to get off to give him any sort of compliment.

Yukina continued to groan as Kisa went down on him, not even caring about all the noise he was making. He couldn't help it: he has been at least somewhat aware that Kisa had been with men before, based on the man he'd helped chase off, but he had no idea that he was this good. He felt bad that Kisa wasn't getting anything out of it, but he had a feeling that if he tried to sit up and arrange themselves so that he could suck off the man in return, he'd find that he didn't have the strength. He clutched at the sheets as he felt Kisa wrap his tongue around his shaft and suck, bringing him that much closer to climax. "Kisa-san… I'm so close…"

"Then go ahead," Kisa muttered after pulling back. For a second Yukina thought that Kisa expected him to finish himself off, but he went right back down on him, sucking even harder like he was trying to get him off as quickly as possible.

Finally, Yukina moaned out Kisa's name and arched his back, his climax hitting him harder than he expected. Kisa kept his mouth on his cock and swallowed Yukina's release. When he was finally done, Kisa pulled back and licked his lips, getting rid of a bit that had dribbled out. Yukina was still flushed and panting, and Kisa smirked. "You put on a pretty good show. I almost have to wonder if it was real or if you were just trying not to hurt my feelings."

Yukina just stared down at Kisa, taking deep gulps of air in an attempt to stabilize his breathing. Finally he said, "Kisa-san, I doubt I could fake something like that."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Kisa said with a grin, crawling up Yukina's body and moving in for a kiss. Just before their lips could connect, though, there was a high-pitched ringing sound, and Kisa narrowed his eyes. "Please don't tell me that's your cell phone."

"Well, I could tell you it's not my cell phone, but I'd be lying to you, Kisa-san," Yukina said with a sheepish smile on his face.

Kisa rolled off Yukina, shaking his head and putting a hand over his face. "Just answer it."

"It's probably Kawano-san… I was supposed to meet him about an hour ago."

Kisa dragged the hand down his face. "So you basically blew off your manager so you could have sex with me." When he looked over at Yukina, though, he realized that the man had already gotten the phone and accepted the call.

And, of course, Kawano had heard it.

"K-Kawano-san, calm down," Yukina said with that same sheepish smile on his face. He glanced over at Kisa, looking embarrassed, to his credit. "Um, yes, I'm with Kisa-san right now. Kisa-san. You met him the other day at the studio, remember?" Kisa couldn't hear exactly what Kawano was saying, but from the look on Yukina's face, it probably wasn't anything pleasant. Finally, Yukina sighed and said, "Um, Kisa-san, I should probably go now… Kawano-san is already having a fit."

"Yeah, yeah, get out of here." Kisa waved his hand dismissively. Yukina nodded and quickly redressed. Kisa expected him to just leave, but the man put his cell phone back in his pocket, went over to the edge of the bed, leaned down, and placed a kiss on Kisa's forehead. "…what the hell was that for?"

"Just because," Yukina said with that same sparkly smile of his. "I'll see you later, Kisa-san."

And with that he was gone. Kisa sighed and flopped down on his bed. "What the hell have I gotten myself into…"


	6. Chapter 6

Kisa had expected Yukina to cling to him, and be constantly calling him. It certainly wouldn't be the first time he'd been attracted to a guy like that, after all. Which was why he was surprised when an entire week went by without a single word from the guy. He was relieved, but most of the time, he didn't even think about it. Famous singer or not, Yukina was just another guy, and Kisa was too busy at work to think about him or any other one.

Of course, considering Yukina was the reason Takano-san approached him one day meant it was hard to forget.

"Kisa, we got another print run on the Strawberry series," the man said, putting a folder full of papers onto Kisa's desk as he walked by. The Strawberry series was the one being turned into an anime, but all of Kisa's series had enjoyed more and more popularity. Just over the week, his sales had skyrocketed, and he had a feeling it was thanks to Yukina. The guy just had to read one of them in public and his fans would want to copy him.

Takano-san, however, didn't say anything else. He had a meeting to go to, while Kisa got to keep doing the grunt work. He supposed it was nice that they didn't expect much more of him even though he was quickly becoming the best-selling editor in the department. He still wasn't above Takano-san, but it was good for his ego.

Of course, the fact that he was only selling better because of Yukina, and not because his series were actually thought to be good by the people reading them, put a damper on things. He didn't even hear the phone ring until Ritsu picked it up and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Kisa-san, it's for you." Ritsu waited for Kisa to pick up before he put his own down and went back to his work. Ritsu was a good worker, but lately, he kept getting distracted. Kisa kept catching the man looking over at Takano-san, even when the man was across the room like he was now. Kisa had a feeling that there was something going on between them that he wasn't aware of.

Then again, he didn't have the time to be the office gossip. Right now.

"Marukawa Shoten Emerald department, Kisa speaking."

"You! You're the one Yukina's been obsessing over!"

Kisa winced and pulled the phone away from his ear as someone yelled at him. The voice sounded familiar, and after a bit, Kisa recognized it as Yukina's manager, Kawano. Then he sighed and put the phone back to his ear. "I gave you my card. You have my cell number. Why the hell are you calling me on the work phones?"

"Witnesses." Kawano's voice sounded ominous. "We've got a car on the way to pick you up. You're coming over here."

"Wh-" The line went dead before Kisa could protest, and he pulled the phone away from his ear again, sounding dumbfounded. He blinked at it, then shook his head and put the landline back in its cradle. Ritsu was the only one there right now, so he said, "Ricchan, I have some things to take care of. Could you let Takano-san know if he asks?"

"Mmhmm." Ritsu blinked and looked back down at his work. He seemed confused that it was still there and not completely done. "I'll tell him, Kisa-san."

It was just as hot as the day Kisa had gone to the recording studio to give the flowers to Yukina, and as he stood outside the Marukawa building, he sighed and wiped sweat from his forehead. He didn't understand why Tokyo had to be so damn hot, and especially on days where he was required to spend time outside. Before he could start bitching about it out loud, though, a sleek, black limo came to a stop in front of Marukawa. He blinked a few times, thinking it belonged to one of the executives, and he turned away.

"Kisa Shouta?" The driver had gotten out of the front and was looking at Kisa now. When Kisa nodded, he moved over to the back and opened a door. "Kawano-san and Yukina-san are waiting for you, sir."

Kisa's mouth fell open, and he couldn't help but just stare at the vehicle. When the driver looked at him expectantly, though, he nodded and got in. The driver quickly got back in and started along the way, and Kisa bounced a few times on the cushy seats before pressing the first button he could reach. It caused the tinted window to roll down, and he was treated to a group of women from general affairs stopping halfway through the door to the building so they could stare at him. He grinned sheepishly and waved, then quickly put the window back up.

"Hey!" Kisa said, turning to the front. There was a window between the front and the main part of the limo, but it was down for now. He, however, didn't know the driver's name. "You wouldn't happen to know why Kawano-san is going to all this trouble to see me, would you?"

"I'm afraid I'm just the help, Kisa-san," the man said, but he was smiling slightly, which Kisa could see in the reflection of the shiny windshield. "Kawano-san will tell you everything once you're at his office, I'm sure."

"Okay. So how did you know it was me?" Kisa went on. If he was just the help, surely he wouldn't have known what Kisa looked like.

"Kawano-san said to look for a man with black hair who seemed about twenty."

Kisa's eye twitched, and he fell back in the seat. The comfy back immediately sucked him in, and he sighed contentedly despite himself. Even with Yukina's help, there was no way he'd be able to afford something like a limo, especially in a city like Tokyo where parking and gas was at a premium. Even if this was just a company car, he was impressed.

"For what it's worth, Kisa-san," the driver said as they stopped at a traffic light. "Yukina-san seemed extremely happy with you. I'm sure Kawano-san won't have anything bad to say."

"Happy with me?" Kisa narrowed his eyes and folded his arms. What was that supposed to mean? He hadn't even heard from Yukina in a week. He'd figured that even though he still liked Kisa's series, he'd gotten bored with the man himself and had decided to leave him alone in favor of a more normal relationship. Or really, as normal as he could get, being famous.

Before the driver could tell him anything else, though, they stopped in front of a tall building. Kisa had been by here before, mostly passing it in taxis. He had no reason to stop by a record company, after all. "Just ask the woman at the front desk. She'll let you through." As soon as Kisa was out, the limo drove off and descended down into an underground parking garage.

The oppressive heat pressed down on Kisa again, but he still stood outside, staring up at the Kappa Studios sign. Somehow, he couldn't believe he was actually there. Someone came through dragging a drum kit on a trolley, though, and their stare made Kisa shake his head and go inside.

He ended up in the elevator with the drum kit guy, and he turned away. The secretary had directed him to the twentieth floor, but his elevator partner got off after that. Kisa couldn't even imagine why a building would need to be so high.

"You're Yukina Kou's, right?"

"…what?" Kisa asked, staring at the guy. He had black hair like Kisa, but it was spiked and shiny from hair gel, with parts of it dyed puke-green. It made Kisa wince. When the man just stared at him, Kisa turned away and folded his arms. First the driver, now this guy. "I have no idea what the hell you're talking about."

"What, you missed the magazine thing? Geeze, they don't tell people outside the company anything anymore." He put his hands in the pockets of his skinny jeans and gazed up at the roof of the elevator.

"Magazine?"

"Yeah, the interview." When Kisa still didn't look like he comprehended, the man went on. "The one where he said he was in a relationship with the editor of the manga he's been promoting."

The elevator dinged, and as the doors slid open, Kisa clenched his fists and pushed the man aside as he stormed onto the twentieth floor of Kappa Studios.

"Kawano!" he yelled, stomping down the hall and startling more than a few poor interns as they went through, carrying coffee and paperwork. When he finally reached the numbered door the secretary had told him about, he didn't even bother knocking; it wasn't locked, anyway. Kawano's secretary looked terrified as he pushed through without even asking and flung open the door to the manager's office.

Instead of immediately seeing Kawano, though, Kisa got an eyeful of a very delighted Yukina. The man had been sitting on a couch in the corner of Kawano's office, but when Kisa came in, he got up and enveloped Kisa in a hug.

"Kisa-san!" he said, not noticing the horrified look on Kisa's face. "I'm sorry I haven't seen you in a while, but I've been busy…"

Kawano seemed to notice the expression on Kisa's face, because he sighed and waved a hand. "Let go of him, Kou. We have some things to talk about." Yukina nodded and pulled Kisa over to sit beside him on the same couch. "Now then…"

There was an awkward silence. Only Yukina seemed happy to be there, grinning from ear to ear and holding Kisa's hand in his lap. Kisa had used all his energy and righteous fury on the entrance, so he didn't have the will to pull away or tell him to let go. He did, however, have the energy to ask the one question he'd had since ending the call at Marukawa. "Why am I here?"

"Yukina's a rising singer," Kawano said like that explained everything. "And we don't need him getting involved in scandals."

Kisa blinked, then glanced over at Yukina. He still looked delighted to be with Kisa again, but he was also a little bashful. "Scandals."

"Like sleeping with a young, male editor without even being in a relationship."

"But we are-" Yukina frowned and stopped talking when Kawano waved his hand again.

"…of course," Kisa said, moving his eyes away and finally taking his hand back. There was a huge picture window behind Kawano's desk, with a rather nice view of the city. They were in the better part of town, and everything seemed to sparkle. "If it makes you feel any better, we haven't actually slept together."

"That's not what he told me." Kawano rose an eyebrow and looked at Yukina. "I realize he's a little naïve for his age but I would think he'd at least know what sex it."

Kisa snorted. "A blowjob isn't sleeping together."

There was another awkward silence in the room. Yukina's cheeks were beat-red at Kisa's blunt statement, and Kawano looked like he was going to have a heart attack. He took two deep breaths and a drink of coffee before he went on with the conversation. "Yukina already said you two are together in his last interview."

"Well that's your problem, not mine," Kisa said. Then he stood, dusting himself off. "I have to get back to work. Nice seeing you both~"

Just as Kisa turned to the door, though, Yukina got up from the couch and wrapped his arms around Kisa. "Please, Kisa-san? I… I already told you how I feel. And we could do a lot of stuff together. We could go anywhere you want, and you wouldn't have to pay for a thing."

Kisa's eye had gained a twitch again. Yukina was acting like all Kisa cared about was his money, which wasn't true at all. He slept with a guy no matter how rich or poor, or famous or anonymous he was. Admittedly, this was the first time he slept with someone who could let an entire nation know they were going out within the week. When he turned, Yukina's brown eyes were pleading, and he sighed. The man was like a puppy: he did bad things, but you couldn't help but forgive him when you looked at those eyes. He turned his gaze away and nodded. "Fine." When Yukina lit up, the sparkly aura gaining wattage that had to be illegal, Kisa squinted and held his hand up to his face. "But no promises! I can break up with you whenever I want, got that?"

"I promise you won't want to, Kisa-san." Yukina grinned and pulled him into a kiss.

"Yes, bad for publicity." Kawano stood from his desk and went over to them, putting a hand on one shoulder each. "Meanwhile, you two get to go on a date."

"…what?"

"That same magazine wants to cover it," Kawano said with a laugh, and Kisa just knew Kawano was enjoying this.

"Oh hell."


	7. Chapter 7

Two days after Kisa found himself in a relationship with Yukina Kou, he started getting text messages from Kawano. The thing was, however, that they weren't angry as Kisa had been expecting when he saw his name for the first time.

_You need to start calling each other by your given names, the first one had said. When Kisa replied with a simple 'Why?' Kawano responded that it would be cuter._

Cuter.

Right.

But another text came a few hours later, correcting the first one. Yukina was fine just using "Shouta," but Kisa had to use "Kou-chan."

"Kou-chan," Kisa said in disbelief.

"Yes?" Yukina looked over at Kisa with a goofy smile, and Kisa rolled his eyes. The man was making nikujaga, something that surprised him. When Yukina had said he could get Kisa anything and bring him anywhere he wanted, Kisa had expected to be eating out every night . He seemed a lot happier about it than Kisa was as he went back to cooking. "I think it's cute, Shouta-san."

Yukina still used honorifics when it was just them. The names thing was a little strange, mostly because he was used to men he slept with only having the chance to use his first name in bed.

Kisa sighed and rolled over onto his back, then moved so his body was draping over the couch and he was looking upside-down at Yukina over in the kitchen. "I don't mind calling you by your given name. I don't mind people knowing that we're together, because so far it hasn't been that bad. But do I really have to act like a cute little virgin schoolboy just because I look like one?"

There was a long pause as Yukina stared at a pan hanging over the stove, considering Kisa's words. Yukina, of all people, knew Kisa wasn't a blushing virgin. They hadn't actually gotten to sleep together yet, with Kisa busy at work and Yukina running between school and his responsibilities at the record company. Still, Kisa was a blunt person.

"No," Yukina finally said, turning off the burner. "At least I don't think so. But Kawano-san does, and Kawano-san knows best. He's the one who got me this far, after all."

The smell of meat was making Kisa's mouth water, and he managed to make it to the table without just snatching the serving spoon from Yukina and dishing it all for himself. It would be rude, after all. Not that Kisa cared. There was, however, a question on his mind, and as he used his chopsticks to split a piece of boiled potato in half, he just stared at Yukina, as if he expected the man to be able to read his mind.

When it didn't work, he abandoned the potato and said, "Kou?"

"Yes, Shouta-san?"

"Just what is that date that Kawano thinks we're going on, anyway?"

Yukina looked like he didn't know. Even though he couldn't read Kisa's mind, Kisa could read his. Or some reasonable facsimile of such. Yukina Kou was so transparent in his thoughts that he could never say a word to Kisa again and they'd still be able to carry out a conversation.

"I guess just dinner, and maybe some other things." He frowned, looking disconcerted that Kawano hadn't talked to him about his and Kisa's first date. The fact that he had so little control over his love life was cause for concern, but it was par for the course when you were famous.

Yukina had had to sneak into Kisa's apartment, after all. He wasn't so famous that he had paparazzi following him wherever he went, but it was still possible to find pictures of himself in tabloid magazines a day or two after doing something seemingly normal. They could get anything out of a picture. Even with someone as innocent as him.

"…either way, I have work so we can't even do anything until the weekend." He pointed at Yukina with his chopsticks. "Talk to Kawano and get him to tell you what he has planned. I'm not going to have him drag me all over Tokyo just for a photo op."

Yukina smiled, staring down at his food. "Yes, Shouta-san."

xxx

Kisa didn't hear from Yukina again about the date, and he didn't bother asking. Maybe these types of things took time. Kisa wouldn't know, having never been famous. He was infamous, if anything, and only to a certain subset of the population. That specific subset was also the kind to appreciate Yukina, but not in the same way that his teenage fangirls did.

It was about eight in the morning on Saturday when there came a knock at his door. When it wasn't Hell Week, Kisa did not and would not get up that early on a weekend. The person was insistent, and Kisa pulled one of his pillows over his head and folded it over his ears. However, his phone went off after a little while, Yukina's ring tone sounding from the nightstand and making Kisa's eye twitch. "Geeze," he muttered as he sneaked his arm out from under the covers and picked it up. "Kou, I don't function properly for at least two more hours."

"Ah, well, Kawano-san and I are standing outside your door right now and you weren't answering, so I thought you might've had to go into the office today or something.

Kisa pursed his lips and looked at the clock to make sure of the time. Barely past eight. With a long sigh, he answered, "Yeah, I had to go in. Lots of stuff to do, so little time."

"We'll meet you there, then. I'm sure Takano-san won't mind if you take off today. It's the weekend, after all."

"…yeah, see you there."

Kisa shut his phone before Yukina could respond further. However, now that he was up and had his first lie of the day out of the way, there wasn't much use in going back to sleep. He'd just have to take a nap later or something.

He went about his day as he usually did, grabbing clean clothes from beside the washer because he never bothered putting them away and taking a shower before he did anything else. He liked to shower every day when he could, mostly because Hell Week meant they went quite a while without one. He even started singing as he washed, and he still hummed as he stepped out of the bathroom, only dressed from the waist-down and a towel draped over his head.

That's about when he saw Kawano and Yukina sitting on his couch.

"Wha-what the hell?" he demanded as he moved the towel from his head to his front, as if these men seeing him shirtless was the worst of his problems. "How the hell did you guys even get in my apartment?"

Yukina smiled and held up a key. "You gave it to me, remember Shouta-san?"

Kisa frowned and walked over, snatching it from him. "No more key privileges for you." Instead of hiding it, though, he just chucked it onto the coffee table, at which point Yukina leaned down and picked it up again. It was on a keychain of Tinkle, the Emerald department mascot. Kisa really shouldn't have been surprised that Yukina had one of those.

"Either way, you two are scheduled to have lunch together at eleven-thirty." Kawano stood, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose and closing a little black schedule book. "You've already washed, so get dressed and get ready."

Just to confirm, Kisa checked the wall clock hanging in the kitchen. "It's eight-forty-five. We have hours." And then he paused. "And I'm not going out somewhere just because you tell me to." He used his most threatening voice, the one he reserved for his authors when they skirted the deadline so closely that Takano started talking about telling the printers they had gone out of business.

Kawano adjusted his glasses. "Well you'll have to eat breakfast so you don't eat too much. And of course you'll have to look good for the photoshoots."

"The what."

Yukina had stood by then, going over to Kisa's kitchen and looking around. Apparently the fact that they were going out and were going to be photographed as they had a date didn't alarm him in the least. Just how the hell long had Yukina been doing this that he thought nothing of every facet of his personal life being up for public scrutiny? And how far gone was Kawano that he didn't care?

It wasn't up for debate, though. As Yukina made rice omelets, Kisa was reduced to sitting there on the couch, his arms folded as he vaguely listened to Kawano list out all the things they were doing.

"Can I at least drink at the end of the day?" Kisa asked when Kawano told him that they'd be going to supper at a romantic restaurant with a great view of the city.

Kawano stared at him. "No. You're not old enough."

Kisa stared right back. "Wanna fucking bet?"

Before he could say anything else, though, Yukina was back in the living room, putting plates down for all three of them. It was, apparently, a day for eating in the living room. No formalities were needed when you were discussing your love life with your boyfriend's manager, he supposed.

"No drinking," Kawano insisted as he picked up his chopsticks and dug in. "We need Yukina sober for the night. I've seen what he's like when he gets drunk, and it's not an experience we need caught on film."

"I keep telling you, I'm old enough to drink, too." Kisa almost pouted down at his breakfast but caught himself. How was he supposed to convince this man that he wasn't as young as he looked if he acted like that?

There was a long silence. And then, seeming to relent, Kawano said, "Alright, try me. How old are you, Kisa-san?"

"Thirty."

"Liar."

"You asked." Kisa stuck his tongue out and jabbed a chopstick at him. "I'm thirty, and that probably means I'm older than you. Haven't you ever heard of respecting your elders?"

"Haven't you ever heard that if you're going to lie, you need to at least make it believable?" Kawano didn't get to say anything else, because Kisa had dug around for his ID card and flung it at Kawano's head. After a few seconds, he pulled a face and flung it back. "Alright, the magazines don't need to know that part."

And there was another thing Kisa was afraid was going to happen. Kawano would find out just how old Kisa really was, and try to keep it a secret. Instead of taking it, he jabbed his chopsticks at Kawano again and said, "I am a thirty-year-old man with a respectable job and the looks of a teenager. If the magazines don't like that, they can kiss my cute little ass."

Yukina snorted back a laugh, and he was grinning around his chopsticks as he tried to keep quiet. When both Kawano and Kisa stared at him, he cleared his throat and put his utensils down. "Nothing, Shouta-san. Just thinking that your ass really is cute."

Kisa slapped his forehead and turned away from the man. "Ugh, I don't even know what to do with you anymore."

"Go out on a date with him so we can get this over with," Kawano said, putting his own empty plate down. "It's not much to ask, Kisa-san."

There was a long silence between the men, each exchanging glances with each other in intervals. It was mostly just Kisa and Kawano, however, as Yukina was looking between them with that bright grin on his face, like he wasn't aware there was a Western-style standoff happening right in front of him.

Finally, Kisa let out a long sigh and nodded. "Fine. They can photograph one date. But I'm dating Yukina because I like him, not because I want to be famous. You're not getting anything out of me after this."

Kawano simply smiled and stood, pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. "We'll see about that."


	8. Chapter 8

Kawano was nothing if not good for his word, because he shuffled Yukina and Kisa out of the apartment and had them at lunch at exactly noon. With all the instructions he was spouting at both of them, you'd think that he was Kisa's manager, too. And perhaps that was partly true, because Kisa had learned not long ago that if he was going to date Yukina, then his manager came as part of the package.

Kisa had been in threesomes before, but this was absolutely ridiculous.

"The press is right outside," Kawano said as the two sat down. Given the mid-summer heat, sitting out on the restaurant patio had been vetoed, despite how romantic it would've looked in the various pictures. When Kisa gave him a look, Kawano added, "Only one magazine is officially covering this. They'll follow you around and ask questions for the article. The rest are just sharks."

"Gee how comforting," Kisa rolled his eyes, and when Kawano slapped him with a rolled-up newspaper, he whined. "Ow, what?"

"You're supposed to be cute."

"I'm fucking adorable, thank you very much."

"And no swearing." He turned just as the restaurant doors opened again, and a woman with a tablet and a man with a high-end camera came shuffling in. They stayed near each other like they were attached at the hip. Kawano waved them over and turned back to Kisa and Yukina as the waitress brought their drinks. "This is Kaneda and Yamato." He waved a hand to the woman first, then the man. "Unless Kaneda is asking questions, just go about your date. They need natural pictures."

"Natural my ass," Kisa muttered behind his glass of iced tea. When Kawano gave him a cold look, he immediately put the tea down and stood up, bowing deeply. "It's nice to meet you both. I'm Kisa Shouta." When neither of them were looking, he shot Kawano a glare that clearly said 'See? I can play nice.'

Kaneda bowed right back, putting her tablet down on the table. "We've heard about you, yes. It's amazing that you've got such a prestigious job at your young age."

"I'm not-"

"Yes, it certainly is." Kawano quickly cut into that conversation. "Normally twenty-year-olds wouldn't have a high position like editor in a company!"

This definitely wasn't amusing Kisa, but he kept that sparkly smile on his lips as Kaneda asked more questions. They were more directed at Kawano, though, and so he quickly sat back down and returned his attention to Yukina. "I'm definitely going to need a drink after this."

"It's not so bad, Shouta-san." Though Yukina did look a little surprised that Kawano was still going with the charade that Kisa was as young as he looked, he knew better than to say anything about it. There was no arguing with Kawano once he got an idea in his head. "And I guess I can understand why they'd do it."

"And why, pray tell, are they doing this?"

"Because it's cuter this way, Shouta-san."

Of course. It always came down to things being cute. Kisa knew that he put up that act when he was at work, but that was exactly what it was: an act. But he should've figured there'd be more acting when you went out with someone famous.

He suddenly realized that Kaneda had addressed him again, and Kisa pulled his eyes away from Yukina and blinked. "I'm sorry, what was that?"

"How did you and Yukina-san meet?" She smiled patiently at him.

"…" Right. The questions. "Kou was hired to sing the theme song for an anime being made out of one of my titles. So my boss sent me over to the studio the day he was recording to thank him in person."

"Would you say it was love at first sight?"

Well, Kisa certainly would've loved to fuck him the moment he saw him, but he doubted that counted. And he'd likely get in trouble with Kawano for saying such a thing. So instead, he settled on, "I don't know about that. But he has a certain way of drawing you in the moment you see him. He's like a prince from a shoujo manga." Both Kisa and Kaneda looked over at him at that, only to see Yukina was sitting there contently, the sparkly aura at full force.

"Well, I certainly can't argue that." Kaneda laughed and shook her head. Yamato took a picture, and Kisa blinked against the harsh camera flash before turning back to Kaneda. The waitress had showed up to take their orders, so they did that before she went on. "Can you see yourself having a long-term relationship with him?"

"I mean, I'm a little old to-" Before Kisa could finish that sentence, he jumped in fear at the aura of violence that had flared up around Kawano over at the next table, and he laughed and cleared his throat. "He's not just Yukina Kou the famous singer. He cooks for me and meets me after work and stuff like that." He realized that his cheeks were turning a little red at that, and for once, it was entirely unintentional. He could give a guy head in a public bathroom and he'd be fine, but thinking about the little domestic things Yukina did for him embarrassed him to no end, it seemed.

At least it went pretty well with the image that Kawano was trying to pass off of him to the media.

xxx

Next on their mission was, apparently, shopping. Kawano was keeping his distance and so were Kaneda and Yamato, but as soon as Kisa started complaining that he didn't need anything, Kaneda was on him. A fairly high-end department store had been chosen for them, and it seemed that she assumed he was complaining because he didn't want a ton of money spent on him.

"Surely in your line of work you need to look nice?" Kaneda said, holding her tablet up and making it obvious that she was going to type whatever Kisa decided to answer that with.

It took a few seconds for Kisa to decide what Kawano wouldn't kill him for, and he ended up just shrugging and saying, "This is pretty much how I dress at Emerald. Especially during Hell Week."

"Hell Week?"

"The last week of the magazine cycle when everything's due and the artists decide they'd rather wait until the very last second." He rolled his eyes and turned to Yukina, who was looking at all the clothes. "Besides, places like this never have my size."

"I guess you are a bit short even for your age." Kaneda smiled and put her tablet to sleep. "You're young, though. You could have a last-minute growth spurt."

It took every ounce of Kisa's self control to not answer that how he really wanted to. On the other hand, there was one thing he could do to make this a lot more tolerable. So he reached over to a wrack he'd been going over, pulling out a suit that looked like it'd fit him before turning to Yukina. "Can you help me get this on?"

Yukina smiled at that and nodded, gently taking the suit from him and leading the way to the changing rooms. Kaneda and Yamato followed after eagerly, of course, with Yamato taking a couple pictures of them together. Kisa was smiling brightly and had an arm through Yukina's, so it made the perfect picture. Yamato of course turned the camera away when they went into the dressing room and locked the door behind them.

"Shouta-san what-" was all Yukina got the chance to say before Kisa pulled him down into a long kiss. He ended up dropping the suit onto the floor and wrapping his arms around Kisa's shoulders, sighing happily as Kisa pressed their tongues together. "What about trying on the clothes?"

"I don't need any new clothes," Kisa muttered as he fell down to his knees and started to unzip Yukina's jeans. "What I need is to suck you off so that I get at least one thing I wanted out of this day."

Yukina's cheeks went completely red at that, but instead of protesting, he leaned back against the side of the dressing room stall and watched Kisa work, pulling him out and gently licking the head before taking him in as far as he could.

At least until there was a knock on the door. Kisa didn't pull away, so it was up to Yukina to answer. "Yes?"

"I know what you two are doing in there and if Kisa doesn't change and get out here in two minutes you are grounded." Yep, it was definitely Kawano, and Kisa pulled back and snorted in amusement at how much he sounded like a parent right then. Yukina looked distraught, though, and so Kisa just sighed and went to change into the suit he'd picked.

Kaneda and Yamato were sounding puzzled as Yukina quickly put himself back, though it was obvious that he was still aroused. It was a good thing he wasn't wearing skinny jeans that day. By the time Kisa had changed and they unlocked the door, it wasn't at all obvious, thankfully. Yamato immediately took a picture of the two as Yukina tied Kisa's tie.

Of course, Yukina was smiling softly as he leaned down and pressed a kiss to Kisa's forehead. "You look very handsome, Shouta-san. And you actually look your age." That last sentence was said quietly, because Kawano was hovering around them and would've punished him for trying to destroy the lie they still had going.

Kisa's cheeks were still red as he glanced over at Kaneda, who was rapidly tapping away at her tablet. "I guess," he said, staring down at his shoes. "I already have a suit but nothing wrong with having another one." Not that he had to wear a suit more than once or twice a year, usually for company parties that Marukawa threw and which they made his attendance mandatory. He was good at schmoozing to a extent, but he didn't like doing it.

Of course, it was better the editors do it than the manga-ka, he supposed. They were about as social as cranky two year olds depending on what time of the month it was.

Kisa sighed and turned back to the dressing room, ready to change back into his street clothes and fold up the suit so they could just get out of there. He didn't want anything else, and he was sure that Kawano had plenty planned for after this.

Kaneda and Yamato were talking among themselves, and apparently, Kawano decided to take that time to have a talk with Kisa. "I suggest you behave if you don't want your reputation ruined, Kisa," he said through the door, his voice a low whisper.

Kisa scoffed as he hung up the suit before putting on his clothes. "What reputation? I'm a manga editor. Most people who read my series don't even know my name."

"You'd be amazed what the media can do to unsuspecting civilians." He rolled his eyes and leaned against the door. "Just behave."

"Or what? Yukina's not going to break up with me just because you say so."

"Wanna bet?" Kawano left him alone before Kisa could say anything about that.


	9. Chapter 9

The day had cooled-off by the time they left the department store, and Kisa found himself sighing happily as he, Yukina and their entourage took a walk through the park towards the restaurant where they were having dinner. Kisa was used to having multiple meals out, but it was usually convenience store food, pre-packaged and just needing a zap in the microwave, if that.

He hoped his poor stomach could take all of this. Even with dating Yukina, they usually cooked for each other. Healthy things like vegetable fried rice or pan-seared fish.

"Ah, Shouta-san. There was something I wanted to ask you." Yukina turned to look at Kisa, a warm smile on his lips. The sun was setting just behind him, and it gave him an otherworldly glow, one different from the sparkles he usually emitted. Kisa found himself just staring at Yukina, caught-up in the image. Yukina seemed to take that as permission to continue. "I'm going on tour across Japan starting next week. But the first concert is here in Tokyo. And… I want you to be there."

Kisa blinked in surprise at that. He knew, of course, that Yukina was famous and would have obligations. But in the short time they'd known each other, he had gotten used to him just.

Being there.

"Do you want to come, Shouta-san?"

Kisa blinked again, realizing that they had stopped walking. Their entourage behind them had as well, just observing. Yamato had probably taken a picture or two, but otherwise, they were allowed to be 'alone.'

Finally, he nodded. "Yeah, I think it would be really cool to see you in concert. I haven't been to one in a while either so…"

The smile on Yukina's face couldn't possibly grow any larger, but somehow, it did at Kisa's words. Yukina reached out and trapped him in a hug, lifting Kisa up off the ground. "Kou, down. I need my feet on the ground."

"Sorry, Shouta-san." He gave his boyfriend an apologetic smile before taking his hand and starting their walk again. "I'll bring you backstage, but you'll have a seat right in the front row."

"What, no mosh pit?" It was a joke, because Kisa knew exactly the sort of music Yukina made and the sort of fans he usually had. Bubblegum pop, sometimes pop-rock, enjoyed by teenage girls who'd get crushed if they even thought of setting foot in a mosh pit.

Yukina gave him an amiable smile and a squeeze of the hand. "No. If you want to go to that sort of concert, we can probably do that when I get back."

He really didn't, but it was nice that Yukina had offered, at least.

"It's going to be strange with you gone a whole month," Kisa said, kicking a pebble. It landed in the manmade lake nearby and skipped a couple times before plunging to the bottom. He turned to see Yukina giving an impressed, wide-eyed look at the lake. "…Kou?"

"We'll talk every night, Shouta-san." He smiled and moved his arm to wrap around Kisa's shoulders. "You'll hardly know I'm gone."

Yeah well, he'd see.

xxx

The restaurant Kawano chose for dinner was on the top floor of its building; when they got there, it was already dark, and from their table by the windows, they could see the lights of the city, twinkling like stars. It was the closest thing Kisa ever saw, because those same lights created so much light pollution that the sky was always just an over-exposed dark gray at night.

It almost made him miss his tiny hometown, but it never lasted long. He couldn't live his lifestyle at all if he were still home, rather than here where there were millions of men who wouldn't be able to track him down after a night of sex.

He was handed a menu, but the waitress only stayed long enough to do that and give them both glasses of water. Kisa wasn't sure if that was because she was being polite, or if she had been instructed to leave them alone because of who Yukina was.

It had only been a few days of them officially being a couple, but Kisa felt like he'd never be quite used to how things went when you were a celebrity. Everything seemed either backwards or insanely detailed. You couldn't do this, you couldn't say that. If the press knew just what Kisa was really like, they'd have a field day.

Hmm. That was a thought.

"I'll be leaving the same night as the concert," Yukina said. "I'm flying out to America, where my first international concert is in San Diego. I'm actually really excited, because I've never been…"

"You'll have to send me post cards," Kisa said with a laugh. "I've never dated a guy who could afford to go farther than Kyoto."

"Well, I'm glad to be your first, then."

Suddenly, though, Kaneda was there with her tablet. "You guys are having a lot of firsts, aren't you?" It seemed she had thought of a line of questioning, and Kisa had a feeling he knew exactly where it was going. RIP, Kawano. "Being so young, Kisa-san, you probably don't have a ton of experience, right?"

Before he could answer that question, though, the waitress was back for their orders. After giving his food one, Kisa suddenly held the wine list up. "And a bottle of this one."

The waitress looked like a deer caught in headlights, and she quickly stammered out, "I'm going to need to see both your IDs, please!" Apparently she had been briefed, because she kept glancing at Kawano at the table with the reporters. The manager looked like he was going to murder Kisa, but he also wasn't getting up. Maybe he just didn't want to make a scene.

Without protest, both Yukina and Kisa produced their IDs, and the waitress stared at Kisa's for a while before nodding numbly and leaving with the orders. The poor thing probably wanted to ask Kisa if his ID was real, but had thought better of it. Given her briefing, she was likely very, very confused about all of this, but who was she to deny the restaurant a sale? And who was Kisa to not sneak in some alcohol when he wasn't the one paying for it.

"Excuse me, Kisa-san? Could I see your ID for myself?" Kaneda asked. Kisa hadn't yet put it away yet, and he nodded with a big smile, handing it over.

They had gotten the wine bottle and glasses before Kaneda was done staring at the ID. Yamato had put down his camera and joined her, and they were both just standing at the table, looking like they had been told the world was actually a virtual reality projection created by aliens far superior in intellect to the human race. Finally, though, as Kisa poured wine for both himself and Yukina, Kaneda gave him back his ID and went back to their own table, where Kawano was still fuming.

It might have been a small victory in the grand scheme of things, but Kisa would take what he could get.

xxx

Despite the monkey wrench Kisa had thrown into Kawano's plans, it seemed he was bound and determined to keep going with the schedule for the date. Their final stop, in stark contrast with the fancy restaurant they'd eaten at (and which Kisa had thoroughly enjoyed, even if he'd had to have Yukina help him order), they were just stopping at an ice cream shop for dessert. Neither of them were anywhere near buzzed, since they'd only had one glass and Yukina had said they'd take the bottle back, and perhaps celebrate before the concert.

They were supposed to simply get their ice cream and head home, but of course things couldn't be nearly that simple. The minute Yukina stepped into the shop, a girl in a high school uniform recognized him, and suddenly a crowd was on him. It didn't matter that he was clearly there with someone, or that Kawano was sending them death glares from the sidelines; they were high school students, after all, and were probably used to worse from teachers. They weren't going to let Yukina go until he'd talked to all of them, gotten their names right, and had signed something. A lot of them seemed to be there to study, because school was back in session after summer vacation and obviously the best place to concentrate on your future was at an ice cream shop.

"Um, I'm sorry, but I really do have to go," Yukina said when they kept insisting on talking to him and taking selfies. "I'm here on a date and-"

One of them squealed loudly, and started looking around until she spotted Kisa. It seemed that even though Kisa had expected the fans to hate him, they actually loved the idea that Yukina was gay. Or bi, more than likely, because it wasn't like he wasn't attracted to women. Kisa just happened to not be a woman.

After they'd all gotten selfies, with Kisa in the middle looking confused, they quickly dispersed. Either they'd gotten what they wanted, or Kawano had finally gotten through to them, because they parted like the Red Sea as the manager pushed through, before heading back to their booths.

"For a manager, you sure didn't seem happy about him having all that attention," Kisa said with a raised eyebrow, getting in line to order his cone.

"Yukina gets carried away. He hasn't learned yet how to manage his fans himself, so I have to do it for him. And that includes shooing them away when it's not the time."

"…he's sort of a sap, huh?" There was more affection in Kisa's voice than he'd meant there to be, and when he realized that, he just ducked his head before turning to look at Yukina.

It didn't take long for them to get their ice creams, and Kaneda and Yamato approached. "Well, we need to head back. Our magazine is weekly, so you'll be seeing the article before Yukina-san heads out on his world tour. I hope you guys look forward to it!" Kaneda bowed gratefully before pulling Yamato along with her, as if he had no say in any of this at all.

Kawano, for his part, looked like he was ready to die. "I need a drink."


End file.
